Annise Parker in action

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Although the overall U.S. economy is slow to recover from a crippling recession, Houston tops the list of cities expected to see an economic boost in the coming year, a report released Thursday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors concluded.

The report estimated that Texas’ largest city would have a growth rate of 3 percent or more in its “gross metropolitan product,” the local version of the gross domestic product.

But, as strange as it may seem, Houston and other major metropolitan areas are facing the prospect of more growth than they can handle, said mayors who were gathered for a meeting in Philadelphia. In particular, mayors warned that a failure to invest in transportation infrastructure could cause skyrocketing costs to citizens over the next decade.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker said the concern that federal underfunding of urban areas could hurt the fledgling economic growth is “real.” She warned that important projects that cities are planning often are “haphazardly funded” by the federal government.

Parker argued that while metro areas are responsible for 90.7 percent of the nation’s real GDP, 89.9 percent of wage and salary income, 85.8 percent of jobs and 83.7 percent of population, they get a far smaller share of federal transportation dollars.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker (Diana Carlton / Hearst Newspapers)

“The greater Houston metropolitan area has a greater GDP than the entire state of Georgia,” Parker said in an interview with Texas on the Potomac. “The top ten city metro areas in the United States have a greater GDP than 35 states added together. I shouldn’t have to compete with rural areas in some other part of the country for desperately needed transit dollars, for example, since I represent such a large piece of the population. And my fellow mayors would say the same thing.”

As the strain on cities grows, so, too, should the level of federal support, Parker said.

“The competitor countries, the powerhouses in Asia, for example, spend more than twice as much as what the United States does on capital infrastructure projects. And it’s not just that they spend more, but our federal spending on infrastructure is going down,” Parker said. “So we’re going in the wrong direction. That throws the burden back on cities that already have to provide basic life, health, safety services just so people can survive from one day to the next.”

The report underlines the transportation issue at the center of a heated political debate in Houston. Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson is leading the charge for planned multimillion dollar expansion of the Houston Metro system. Critics, including Houston congressman John Culberson, have argued that some of Houston Metro’s plans are “unaffordable, unnecessary and unwanted,” as Culberson told the Houston Chronicle earlier this month.

But the city, which Parker said “may have the most robust economy in the United States,” faces transportation challenges other than Houston Metro. The Port of Houston, responsible for much of the city’s economic status, desperately needs funds, Parker said, and isn’t receiving them from the federal government.

“I desperately need funds and our port authority desperately needs funds to do dredging, channel maintenance in the port of Houston. And yet, our harbor maintenance fees that we collect go to the federal government and then get dispersed around the country,” Parker said. “If you just left us alone, and allowed us to re-invest the money that we generate back in our own port, instead of sending us a fraction of it back, we’d have a phenomenal port.”

The report, prepared by IHS Global Insight, forecasts that by the end of 2013, 300 of the nation’s 363 metro areas will experience real economic growth, as judged by their gross metro product. But as the economic climate grows, the populations of cities and metro areas are projected to swell, with the report predicting that metro areas will grow in population by 32 percent, an estimated 84 million people.

These areas are already home to a majority of the nation’s traffic congestion, and costs the average American commuter $713 annually. At their meeting this week, many of the nation’s mayors voiced concerns that the transportation infrastructure currently in place will not be able to support the projected population boost. Failure to bolster the infrastructure, they argued, could weaken the U.S. global competitiveness and stall future economic growth.

All that points to a need for stronger federal support for the nation’s cities, Parker and the rest of the conference argued. The weight of the conference’s voice, Parker added, can be found in its bipartisan nature. As the group discussed the economy, and next turns its focus to pension reform, she said, there are no political lines being drawn.

“We are a bipartisan group of mayors. You would not have been able to tell, from the conversation in the room, what state somebody was from, what political party we represent,” Parker said.